Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac to launch Sept. 14 with 80 new features

Calling it the "best Windows on Mac experience yet," Parallels on Thursday formally announced the sixth version of its virtualization software, set to bring more than 80 new features and enhancements when it launches Sept. 14.

The new Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac is claimed to be the most powerful version yet of the best-selling virtualization software. Benchmark tests reportedly show that 3D graphics run nearly 40 percent faster than before, while boot time for Windows is 41 percent faster. The new Parallels Desktop 6 also boosts speed for working with files on USB drives, networks and in shared folders.

"Whether its for school, home, work or play, Parallels Desktop for Mac is the #1 choice of customers worldwide," said Serguei Beloussov, Chairman and CEO, Parallels. "Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac delivers again on our proven track record of innovation with over 80 new and enhanced features that provides the fastest, simplest and most immersive Windows on Mac experience ever."

The company also announced Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac edition, which includes the latest version of Parallels, plus new features specifically designed to make the move from PC to Mac easier for users. It also includes a high-speed USB data transfer cable that allows users to move their programs, files, users settings and browser favorites and bookmarks to a Mac

"The Mac is more popular than ever, with millions of people moving to the Mac from Windows," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. "Parallels does a great job of making it even easier for people to switch to the Mac and allowing them to run Windows applications if they need to, side-by-side with their Mac applications and without rebooting."

Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac will be available on Sept. 14 with a standard retail price of $79.99. The student edition will fetch $39.99 while Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac edition will retail for $99.99. However, Parallels is making available today direct downloads of its $49.99 Parallels Desktop 6 Upgrade for customers who already own 5.0. In addition, anyone who purchases Parallels Desktop 5.0 today will be eligible for a free 6.0 upgrade.

Many of the features found in Parallels 6 were reported Wednesday by AppleInsider. The product was also spotted early on the shelves of a Fry's electronics store in California.

Below are the list of new and features highlighted in the forthcoming Parallels Desktop 6:

Faster & More Powerful
Launch Time: Run Windows applications 41 percent faster than Parallels Desktop 5
Full 64-bit Engine: Take advantage of all of the capabilities of your 64-bit Mac and enjoy the fastest virtual machine performance yet
Immersive Graphics & Audio Experience
5.1 Surround Sound: Savor rich, immersive audio experiences for games, music and videos
Enhanced 3D Graphics: Enjoy more life-like visual action and play a wider range of modern games with 40 percent improvement over Parallels Desktop 5
More Manageable
Parental Control: Have peace of mind when children are online by applying the same parental controls you set for your Mac to your Windows applications
VM Encryption: Protect data from being stolen by using built in virtual machine encryption
Simpler & Smarter
Mac Shortcuts: Use Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts to make Windows applications work the way you do
Personal Data Migration: Simplifies moving to Mac by automatically moving programs, data and media (i.e. My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos and My Downloads) to the appropriate folders on your Mac
Web Browser Favorites: Parallels automatically moves your Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome settings and bookmarks from your PC to the default browser on your Mac
Anti-virus Protection: Data protection with Parallels SmartGuard & SafeMode plus leading anti-virus protection for both Mac OS X and Windows with complimentary Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac, Acronis True Image Home 2010 and Acronis Disk Director 2011 Home

Can you elaborate? Since we don't really know each other I would need a bit more information to qualify your opinion.

For one thing they sent me an email only yesterday soliciting an Upgrade to Parallels "5". That deceptive to say the least! Parallels has a checkered history of deep discount garage sales -- some orchestrated by Parallels Corp -- to push out their next not ready for prime time update. I stand by that opinion.

Version 5.0 did not allow me to import my Fusion 3.1.1 virtual Windows machine so I did not upgrade. Any word whether or not V6.0 will allow us to do this? It really does make a difference when considering moving over to Parallels.

I am tired of those e-mail messages from Parallels prompting me to upgrade to version 5 because discount deal expires soon. It is especially annoying if one knows that version 6 is coming out next days and they should be giving upgrades from version 4 which I am running. If no then double upgrade(4->5->6) is far worse path than simply buying full newest version and to forget about version 4 - uninstalling it.

I just upgraded and version 6 is extremely fast compared to version 5. Version 5 was barely usable. I fired it up before installing the upgrade and it took 16:30 minutes to get from clicking the icon to a working desktop. Some of the issue may have been Time Machine running in the background, but it never warned me. Version 6 does. After install it took only 2:30 minutes to go from clicking on the icon on the desktop to a working desktop and after the tools were updated it was even faster on the reboot.

So for me it's finally usable and I won't have to rely on using MS's "Remote Desktop Connection" connection to a real WIn PC anymore.

Plus it says that there will be a mystery feature that they will unveil on the 14th. Speed and battery are the only things I care about at this point, Parallels 5 is already doing everything I need feature wise.

I'm seeing a lot of people selling their MacBook pros ( don't have the same high end Vaule they used to so it will take 4 core systems with good graphics and battery time to get them back up), but anyway, I'm seeing a lot of people selling their MBP and getting an iMac and ipad in return but be forewarned, if your an audio, graphic or hardcore user that uses the older mbp with express slots, you might see think twice. With the eexoress slot you can add esata raid, esata, fx for audio taking 50-100% load off the cou ie reverb, compression, delay or specialized ones like fatso that cost $3000 for the hardware version, $300 for the plug in and you can still add the reverbs and such. Fatso gives your mixes a thick 2" analog tape sound. I just wish the iMacs had them, then they would sell even faster and pros especially semi pros, one of the largest market segments out there, they would probably sell really well and graphic artists need antiglare. The real reason we don't see something so easy to add to the iMac is that mbp 17" and mac pros would take a hit. Avid finally saw the light when they bought M-Audio as they saw comuters getting faster and faster and wanted t make sure they didn't lose money with full Pro Tools studios shutting down all the time in Hollywood. Only the big foley, mixing studios are staying open and ironicaly some artist have to use pro tools even though the mixer probably used Logic to mix. But Logic needs updates more often. Nuendo, cakewalks sonar, cubase, acid, ableton live get updates almost every six months.

Version 5.0 did not allow me to import my Fusion 3.1.1 virtual Windows machine so I did not upgrade. Any word whether or not V6.0 will allow us to do this? It really does make a difference when considering moving over to Parallels.

Excellent points. Especially if you have fusion XP, vista, 7 images.

Edit: not to mention that would be a stupid non feature to have if they are tring to grab sales. Omitting that while having 80 new features would be a blunder.

PS. For those that work with audio, I was on the Mac beta team for gigastudio and while most soft synths have their built in Kontact, Giga still sounds the best. Got the last, stable release before Tascam stopped. They didn't have the real man power and updates took far to long. Would have been better selling it to Steinberg then to Garritan, no offense Gary but your msn power is even smaller than tascams. Maybe/Hopefully you teamed up with someone to take on NI Kontacts as Giga sounds warmer than Kontakts and you're going to need some real manpower if you are trying to get vendors to try the Giga version. I also hope its not just your products. To many great products out there. Ewql, symphobia, etc. Plus Viennas VSL sounds great.

5 weeks later, version 5 came out. I received an email offering a discounted upgrade.

I wasn't happy to have to pay anything but decided it would be worth it.

I filled out a full page form, waited a week, then got an email stating: I wasn't "eligible" for the upgrade price! It explained that it was really designed for "older" versions or some BS like that.

I was furious and sent an email to the president of Parallels, Sergei. I basically told him I didn't like their upgrade policy and would switch back to Fusion and recommend Fusion to everyone that I knew.

He was very nice (and smart) and gave me an upgrade gratis.

I've liked the product but often wished it was a little faster. Version 6 sounds great.

I agree with the comment above - wait for a bundle in Macheist or some other such "deal".

Wait for the closeout sale on Amazon next month. Better yet, MacHeist will bundle it with 9 other apps for $39 this Xmas.

Parallels hasn't been in a MacHeist bundle yet. What makes you think it's going to be in this one?

Your comments are unfounded and probably written by a person who doesn't use the product. Parallels is indispensable for my work and having used VMWare intensely I can tell you Parallels is the better product and VMWare is playing catchup... like it's been doing since it was released.

Thank the stars above we no longer need any Windows apps so I'll pass ... but Parallels and VMWare helped ease the transition for some apps we needed at first so thanks for the memories. Now all apps we need are Mac available ... so .... so long, farewell .. and good riddance. No hard feeling

From Apple ][ - to new Mac Pro I've owned them all.Long on AAPL so biased"Google doesn't sell you anything, Google just sells you!"

I just upgraded and version 6 is extremely fast compared to version 5. Version 5 was barely usable. I fired it up before installing the upgrade and it took 16:30 minutes to get from clicking the icon to a working desktop. Some of the issue may have been Time Machine running in the background, but it never warned me. Version 6 does. After install it took only 2:30 minutes to go from clicking on the icon on the desktop to a working desktop and after the tools were updated it was even faster on the reboot.

So for me it's finally usable and I won't have to rely on using MS's "Remote Desktop Connection" connection to a real WIn PC anymore.

Worth the upgrade.

My setup is a spring 2009 24" iMac 2.8 GHz C2D running 10.6.4.

Funny my VMware Fusion 3.1.1 boots up from scratch into my Windows VM in 29 seconds... So much for Parallels being so much faster.

Funny my VMware Fusion 3.1.1 boots up from scratch into my Windows VM in 29 seconds... So much for Parallels being so much faster.

I agree that Fusion is as fast as it should be, but I don't think those examples of 2:30 boot times or 10 minute restore times are typical of Parallels. Very likely there is insufficient resources or user error in the mix. Even if there isn't, a first Windows boot might take 2:30 because the boot optimizer hasn't kicked in yet. A Windows 7 first-boot takes longer than usual because it is still finishing certain things. Just like on OS X after an update.

Whatever the case, I trust VMWare stability more.

Tip: Use a SCSI virtual hard disk in your non-Bootcamp VMs for better disk performance. VMWare also recommends using 64-bit OSes instead of 32-bit, where practical.

I just upgraded and version 6 is extremely fast compared to version 5. Version 5 was barely usable. I fired it up before installing the upgrade and it took 16:30 minutes to get from clicking the icon to a working desktop. Some of the issue may have been Time Machine running in the background, but it never warned me. Version 6 does. After install it took only 2:30 minutes to go from clicking on the icon on the desktop to a working desktop and after the tools were updated it was even faster on the reboot.

So for me it's finally usable and I won't have to rely on using MS's "Remote Desktop Connection" connection to a real WIn PC anymore.

Worth the upgrade.

My setup is a spring 2009 24" iMac 2.8 GHz C2D running 10.6.4.

Just installed PD5 (+ XP Pro SP3) yesterday and it DID ask about using Time-machine (which I declined). Faultless install and everything works (so far, touch wood).

This thing is FAST; it starts up the Windas VM in coherence mode in 40 seconds flat, which makes me wonder how PD6 could be 41% faster since 25 sec is faster than even SL loads at startup! (2010 MBpro 4GB). I needed it to run ChemBioOffice (Ultra) which has been unsupported for Mac by Cambridge Soft (boo, hiss!) since 2002. That and obligatory MS Office load and run very fast in the virtual machine. Even the butt ugliness of programs in Windas XP is alleviated a bit by using the MacOS-skin option but which, unfortunately, can't disguise the inherent kludginess of everything in Soviet-technology Windas.

Rebate is good through end of Sept, but is there confirmation somewhere that there would be a free upgrade for purchases of version 5 through amazon?

Nova Development is an authorized reseller

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac Tech Guarantee
"Buy a qualifying Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac product from an authorized reseller or from www.parallels.com starting August 15th, 2010 and you will be eligible upgrade to Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac at no additional cost when it becomes available on September 14.

Save your Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac dated sales receipt, register your product and activation key at https://www.parallels.com/account/ and keep your activation key in a safe place. Bookmark this page and come back once Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac has been released in your language.

Parallels has been the best Windows environment on MacOS for some time -- when it works. Which is the problem. I finally gave up on Parallels with release 5.0 after having used their product since almost the beginning, when the upgrade crashed all the time and ate one of my VM's. I had been running Parallels for running Windows and VMware Fusion for running Linux because Parallels sucked so bad at running Linux (disk performance was roughly *HALF* of what it was under VMware), now I accept VMware's slower Windows performance because a) half as much software, and b) IT DOES NOT CRASH.

The Parallels folks need to work on that whole QA thing. Using their customers as unpaid beta testers is not professional, and those of us who use virtualization products for our jobs simply will not tolerate it. I have never -- *EVER* -- had VMware Fusion crash on me, even when it was a brand new product. I only *wish* I could say the same thing about Parallels...